1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to telecommunications systems. More particularly, this invention relates to recording telephone conversations, or portions thereof, and later retrieving the recorded conversations for audio playback or transcriptions thereof.
2. State of the Art
There is often a need to record information learned during a telephone conversation or a portion of a telephone conversation. Commonly, the information is written down on a piece of paper and later reviewed to retrieve the desired information. For example, it may be desirable to record a simple list of items stated by one party to a conversation to the other party in the conversation. Moreover, it may be desirable at times to record a complex fact situation or other lengthy discussion, such as a discussion between an attorney and a client. While paper recording may be suitable at times, it is, for more complex discussions, generally an incomplete record of the details discussed. Moreover, paper and pen are not always available or safe to use, e.g., when driving and talking on a cellular telephone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,995,824 to Whitfield discloses a recording system for recording segments of a conversation while talking on a cellular telephone. In a first embodiment, the cellular telephone implements a recording function upon the actuation of one or more keys and the recording is carried out by and stored within the telephone, without using any external system. In a second embodiment, the recording is initiated by actuation of a key or keys on the telephone, but the recording is stored for later retrieval in the mobile services network. In either embodiment, the recording service is limited to cellular telephones, and recordings cannot be made and/or retrieved with a telephone outside the cellular service. In addition, the only way to retrieve the recordings is via voice mail retrieval using the cellular telephone.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a universal telephone call recording and recorded call retrieval system which operates with any telephone, whether land-based or mobile, and whether from the user""s home or office, a pay phone or other location.
It is another object of the invention to provide a telephone call recording and recorded call retrieval system which can function as a stand alone service from the telephone companies.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a telephone call recording and recorded call retrieval system which can be integrated into the services provided by telephone companies.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a telephone call recording and recorded call retrieval system which can transmit the recorded conversations.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a telephone call recording and recorded call retrieval system in which recorded conversations can be retrieved via a personal computer.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a telephone call recording and recorded call retrieval system which can be implemented to automatically record, or to record only upon command.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide a telephone call recording and recorded call retrieval system which can record conference calls.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a method of implementing a telephone call recording and recorded call retrieval system.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide a method of telephone call recording and recorded call retrieval in which a transcript of the recorded call is provided to a subscriber.
In accord with these objects, which will be discussed in detail below, a telephone call recording and recorded call retrieval system is provided in which entire telephone calls or portions of conversations may be recorded, and the recorded conversations are stored for retrieval. In one embodiment, the system is maintained on one or more servers coupled to the PSTN, but separate from mobile and land-based telephone company switches. The system server includes telephony, call recording, and preferably call conferencing capability with cards preferably dedicated therefor coupled to the server. A subscriber calls an access telephone number for the system server and is routed to the server by the PSTN. The subscriber is verified by identification of the telephone number from which he or she is calling or by passcode. Depending on the access telephone number called, the subscriber has several options with respect to the type of recording, not all of which are necessarily provided in every embodiment of the invention. First, the subscriber can select to record dictation of the subscriber without completing a call to another person. Second, the subscriber can enter a destination telephone number and the system automatically starts to record the conversation upon answer by the called party. Third, the subscriber can enter a destination telephone number and, after the called party answers, the subscriber can selectively record any portion of the conversation upon activation of pre-assigned keys on the telephone; i.e., when the system receives particular DTMF tones or a hook/flash signal. The system server or a dedicated storage server in communication with the system server includes recorded call storage functionality, and recorded calls are transferred thereto for later retrieval. As the system is separate from the telephone company switches and accessed through one or more access telephone numbers, the system may be used from any telephone, including land-based and mobile telephones, and from any location, including home, work, car, pay-telephone, etc. As such, it does not matter that the subscriber may use a mobile carrier which is different from his or her local carrier, and that the local carrier is different from his or her long distance carrier; the access telephone number is the same regardless, and all recorded calls, regardless of which carrier was used during the call, are stored in a common location for retrieval through a common system.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the telephone call recording and retrieval system is preferably a peripheral device connected to a telephone company switch. In this embodiment, the subscriber is not required to call a telephone number for a server, but rather can place a call to a called party in a normal manner. Then, when call recording is desired, the subscriber can press one or more pre-assigned DTMF keys (including hook/flash) to initiate and later stop (and even restart and again stop) recording. The pre-assigned DTMF keys operate to initiate SS7 signalling to call the system on the peripheral and perform the desired call recording function on the peripheral. Moreover, in this embodiment, call recording can be performed when the subscriber is the called party.
In an alternative embodiment, in which the service is integrated with the telephone company services, all calls to or from the telephone company switches are routed through a server including the call recording and retrieval system, such that call recording may be initiated at any time selected by the subscriber.
In each embodiment, the recorded calls are stored in preferably compressed files, and may be accessed via telephone or a world-wide web page. Moreover, the files may be downloaded via email, hypertext transfer protocol (http) or file transfer protocol (ftp) to a personal computer for archiving and playback on the computer. Furthermore, the files may be sent electronically to a transcription center for transcription, which can then be sent to the subscriber by email, fax, etc.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the detailed description taken in conjunction with the provided figures.